December 12, 2009

Evoking Natives in Avatar

Effects wow but story limps in 'Avatar'The Na'vi are a 10-foot-tall species with translucent, aqua-colored skin, 3-fingered hands and smooth, lean torsos. They have long, neat dreadlocks for hair and wide, feline foreheads. The smart freckles on their brow faintly light up like tiny constellations.

With beady headdresses and skimpy sashes, the Na'vi are clearly meant to evoke Native Americans, as well as similarly exploited tribes of South America and Africa. They pray over slain animals and feel at one with nature. Their tails (oh, yes, they also have tails) even connect—like nature's USB port—to things like mystical willow branches, horse manes or the hair of pterodactyl-like birds.

It's no coincidence that the Na'vi chief Eyukan is played by the Cherokee actor Wes Studi, whose credits include "Dances with Wolves," perhaps the film most thematically akin to "Avatar."

"Avatar," which Cameron wrote as well as directed, is essentially a fairy tale that imagines a more favorable outcome for the oppressed fighting against the technology and might of Western Civilization. Sully, who quickly takes to life as a Na'vi, begins to feel his allegiances blurred.

Though he has promised Quaritch to spy on the Na'vi (their home lies atop an Unobtainium deposit), he begins to appreciate their ways. He also falls for Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), the Na'vi princess and the one who introduces him to the tribe.

Many Na'vi are suspicious of Sully—"a demon in a fake body"—but they eventually embrace him. They accept him as a leader, even though he occasionally goes limp and vacant when his human body isn't connected.
Comment:  As I said before, emulating Dances with Wolves isn't exactly a great idea. An outsider joins an indigenous tribe and soon becomes its leader. He falls in love with the chief's daughter, a princess. All this despite not only a gap between cultures, but a gap between species.

This interspecies rapport happens often in fiction. For instance, the lizards in the TV series V put on human skins and then fall in love with humans. The creators assume that if people look the same, they'll think and act the same.

If you think about this, it's ridiculous. Could a traditional American Indian have become a US general during the Indian Wars? Could a GI Joe have become a Japanese general during World War II? Could an Anglo-American become the head of Al Qaeda today?

All these things are theoretically possible, but none have come close to happening in reality. Why not? Because the cultural gaps are too huge to overcome with perseverance and goodwill. The outsider usually remains a novice, someone to be tolerated if not accepted, like a child at the adults' table. He doesn't surpass the veteran members and become the tribe's esteemed leader.

The idea that an American or Terran could join an alien culture and quickly become its leader is silly. It's an example of the white man's hubris. Outsiders can't master our culture but we can master theirs.

For more on the subject, see Avatar Teaser Trailer and Avatar = Dances with Wolves?

Below:  The character Neytiri, voiced by Zoe Saldana, in a scene from Avatar.

14 comments:

Delux said...

Arghhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry, but I have to get this out of my system. That character pictured is wearing BRAIDS not dreadlocks. They are NOT the same thing, even if they may look like it.

dmarks said...

"The idea that an American or Terran could join an alien culture and quickly become its leader is silly. It's an example of the white man's hubris."

I disagree some on this summary applying the "Dances With Wolves". The Dunbar character was rather humble, and had an attitude of serving and helping the tribe (and adopting its ways) as opposed to coming in like some sort of superhero, teaching them superior ways, and taking over because their existing chief isn't good enough.

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"With beady headdresses and skimpy sashes, the Na'vi are clearly meant to evoke Native Americans, as well as similarly exploited tribes of South America and Africa"

There is something else they are evoking. All "Dances with Smurves" jokes aside, I am reminded of the elves of Elfquest, the Gelflings of "Dark Crystal", and other similar elf clans. Of course, these in turn owe some inspiration to some actual indigenous cultures, so it comes back around to that point in the end.

KS said...

"If you think about this, it's ridiculous. Could a 19th-century American Indian have become a general in the US Army? Could a GI Joe have become a Japanese general during World War II? Could an Anglo-American become the head of Al Qaeda?"

---

Could a black man be president? Half-black...maybe. And, I think Al-Qa`idah may already have an Anglo-American leader: the director of the CIA.

But seriously, there is some historical precedent here. Subcommandante Marcos, a non-Mayan outsider, has become the so-called leader of the Zapatistas in Chiapas.

Not that I'm expecting anything ground-breaking from this film. We already know the supposed hero is white. Same old story.

Kat said...

Finally a review I agree with:
Film Freak Central: Avatar

teshunka said...

You blew it with your line about a 19th century Indian becoming a US Army general. Ever hear of Ely Parker?

Or Stand Washtie with the Confederates?

dmarks said...

"But seriously, there is some historical precedent here. Subcommandante Marcos, a non-Mayan outsider, has become the so-called leader of the Zapatistas in Chiapas."

I already knew that his Marxists ideas (perhaps the worst thing a white European ever thought of) were those of an outsider, and now I know that the man is too.

Anonymous said...

I understand the basic criticism but the first thought I had when I read this post was about Ely S. Parker: a Seneca man who rose to the rank of general in 19th century America. People did and do mix together in many ways.

Anonymous said...

Quanah Parker of the Comanche people was the son of a white woman. That's somewhat of an outsider becoming a leading member of an indigenous people.

Anonymous said...

Just lovely how some of these comments quibble over a minor detail (with references that were mainly bloated out of history and/or miss the point of the statement) and instead ignore the whole flippin point of the article.

-Robin

Anonymous said...

The film is much more akin to Dune than Dances With Wolves.

In Dances With Wolves the outsider doesn't marry a native, he marries another outsider. The outsider doesn't become a leader of the natives: he doesn't lead them to victory, he leaves them to try to talk to his own people about stopping the encroachment on their lands.

Regarding the "minor details" of history that defy the main argument, it's not good to cry "anomaly". That's a lesson that Vine Deloria Jr. points out in Red Earth, White Lies. It's tantamount to ignoring the facts.

It's a fact that the terms of surrender for the American Civil War were written by a Seneca man. It's a fact that some of the Confederates objected to his being present at the surrender. It's a fact that one of the Confederates remarked "It's good to see that there is a real American present here today." (The quote may not be 100% accurate, I'm going on memory here.)

There are more "minor details" than can be counted out there. Just because Tom Cruise is extremely improbable as a samurai doesn't mean that other examples of cultural mixing didn't actually occur.

Anonymous said...

I just read some criticisms that say that Avatar is anti-white. I've read criticisms that the movie is anti-native. I think that James Cameron is aiming higher than all of this: he's trying to say that we are alienated from our connection to nature, to the planet we live on. He's trying to say that we have forgotten our native roots and is acknowledging the colonial forces that have oppressed indigenous peoples across the planet. We are talking about something that goes back thousands of years: from the Roman colonization of the Gauls and Etruscans to the oppression of the Lakota a hundred years ago, humans have been disconnecting themselves from their connection to this planet.

Cameron is saying that we have to become the alien in order to save ourselves and our world. We need to connect with the mind of the planet- which some scientists are proposing is a real thing, they are saying that this planet is a living entity. "Dead planet" is not just an expression.

"Going native" can mean many things. Native American comes to mind immediately but so does Australian Aboriginal. The vast variety of African peoples, or the mostly forgotten indigenous Europeans from which a good number of modern people are descended are others. China needs to remember its native roots as it proceeds to destroy and poison its environment.

I think that Cameron was smoking something and thinking big. That's why he referenced "what are you people smoking" and "this isn't some pagan voodoo, this is real"- he's talking about some kind of Terence McKenna vision of reconnecting to the soul of this planet.

-MikeOwl

Anonymous said...

As a matter of fact, two Native
Anericans DID become generals
during the American Civil war--one
Union (Ely Parker, who later
became Commissioner of Indian Affairs in the Grant
Administration), and one
Confederate (Stand Watie, the last
Confederate General to surrender.)
As the cliche goes, truth is often
stranger than fiction.

Rob said...

I hadn't heard about Ely S. Parker's military career. "Parker was brevetted brigadier general of volunteers on April 9, 1865," according to Wikipedia. Brevetted means the rank was temporary, of course. He was temporarily in charge of volunteers after the Civil War, which doesn't sound very impressive. So he was a general of sorts, but not one who led white men in combat.

Stand Watie was a general in the CSA Army, not the US Army. Try again.

What I meant was a 19th-century traditional Indian. You know, one immersed in his Native culture like the Na'vi? And not one acculturated in Western ways like Parker, Watie, or Jake Sully in his Avatar body?

Anyway, thanks for the comments on this minor point. I'll update the posting so they're no longer valid. ;-)

Rob said...

I haven't watched Dances with Wolves in a long time, DMarks. But it seems to me Dunbar was first among equals among the Lakota, or a leader. Seems to me he led them in at least one of their skirmishes. I don't recall his meekly obeying orders or following others after he officially joined the tribe.